1000 Bantu-speaking peoples set up kingdoms in southern Africa
1000 Kingdoms of Takrur and Gao flourish in West Africa due to gold trade
1021-1035 Reign of Fatimid caliph al-Zahir marks start of decline of Fatimid power
1050 Culture of Yoruba people of Ife flourishes in Nigeria in West Africa; it survives until
1050-1146 Almoravids, Berber Muslims from western Sahara, take over Morocco, Algeria, and part of Muslim Spain; they invade Ghana in 1076, and establish power there
1062 Almoravids found capital at Marrakech
1100 Ghana empire in West Africa declines
1100 Katanga in Zaire central Africa probably founded
1147 Almohads, Berber Muslims opposed to Almoravids, seize Marrakech and go on to conquer Almoravid Spain, Algeria, and Tripoli
1150 Zagwe dynasty rules in Ethiopian highlands
1171 Saladin, Muslim warrior and commander in Egyptian army, overthrows Fatimid dynasty
1173 Saladin declares himself sultan of Egypt
1200-1230 King Lalibela of Ethiopia responsible for churches cut from rock
1218 Ayyubid empire breaks up but Ayyubids rule Egypt to 1250
1220 City state of Kilwa in Tanzania increases in prosperity
1230 Hafsid monarchy takes over from Almohads in Tunisia and acquires much trade across the Sahara desert
1235 Great warrior leader Sun Diata founds Mali empire in West Africa; it expands under his rule
1250 Kanem kingdom in Lake Chad region begins to break up into rival factions
1250 Last Ayyubid ruler in Egypt murdered; Mamluks, soldiers from central Asia employed by Ayyubids, seize power and found military state
1260-1277 Mamluk commander Baybars takes over as sultan of Egypt
1300 Ife culture of West Africa produces famous brasses
1324 Emperor of Mali, Mansa Musa, goes on a pilgrimage to Mecca, Arabia
1348 Egypt devastated by plague, called Black Death
1352-1253 Ibn Battuta, Berber scholar, travels across Africa and writes an account of all he sees
1380 Foundation of Kongo kingdom in Congo river-mouth region of Zaire, central Africa
1400 Kingdom of Great Zimbabwe in southern Africa thrives on gold trade
1400 Gold from mines in Zimbabwe is exported to Asia via Sofala on the east coast
1400 Engaruka community farms land in Tanzania
1420 Portuguese sailors begin to explore west coast of Africa
1420 Songhai people in Gao region, West Africa, begin raids on Mali empire
1430 Sultans of Kilwa on east African coast begin grand building programme
1434-1468 Reign of Christian emperor Zera Yacub in Ethiopia; he expands church and promotes great monasteries
1450 Building at Great Zimbabwe, southern Africa, at its height
1462 Sonni Ali becomes ruler of the Songhai and goes on to build an empire
1482 Portuguese explore Congo river estuary
1491 Ruler of Congo kingdom baptized as Christian by Portuguese
1500 Songhai empire in West Africa enters period of greatest expansion and power under Askia Mohammed Turré
1500 Trade encourages growth of Hausa states in West Africa
1505-1507 Portuguese capture Sofala on east coast and found Mozambique; they begin to trade with Africans
1507 Nzinga Mbemba, Christian and Portuguese ally, becomes king of Kongo kingdom in central Africa
1517 Ottomans defeat Mamluks and conquer Egypt
1529 Muslims defeat Christian Ethiopian forces at the Battle of Shimbra Kure and overrun the kingdom until 1543, when Portuguese troops help to defeat them
1530 Beginning of trans-Atlantic slave trade organized by Portuguese
1560 First Portuguese embassies in Timbuktu, West Africa
1562 Sir John Hawkins starts English slave trade, taking cargoes of slaves from West Africa to the Americas
1570-1610 Kanem-Bornu kingdom in western Central Africa at its most powerful; alliance with the Ottomans brings it firearms, military training, and Arab camel troops
1575 Portuguese begin to colonize Angola; more than a century of warfare follows
1590-1591 Songhai empire overthrown by Moroccan army
1598 First Dutch trade posts set up on Guinea coast, West Africa
1600 Kalonga kingdom, north of Zambezi river, becomes rich through ivory trade
1600 Hausaland dominates trade routes to Sahara
1600 Great Zimbabwe replaced by several regional capitals in Transvaal, Botswana, and Zimbabwe
1620 Queen Nzinga of Ndongo fights Portuguese in Angola
1650 Portuguese clash with Muslims in Zambezi region
1650 Ethiopia expels Portuguese missionaries and diplomats
1652 Dutch found Cape Town in South Africa
1660 Mawlay-al-Rashid restores sultanate of Morocco
1670 French settle in Senegal
1670 Fulani pastoralist people gain control of Bondu in southern Senegal
1680 Rise of Asante kingdom in West Africa
1680 Butua kingdom flourishes in Zimbabwe plains; Portuguese are driven into Zambezi valley, and also eastwards
1686 Louis XIV of France officially annexes Madagascar
1698 Portuguese expelled from Mombasa on eastern coast
1701 Osei Tutu creates free Asante nation in West Africa
1705 Bey (army commander) Husain ibn Ali founds dynasty at Tunis in North Africa
1705 Kongo prophetess, Dona Beatrice, founds new religious cult and helps to end civil war
1710 Dey (military leader) becomes pasha in Algiers, controlling northern Algeria
1714 France captures the island of Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean
1720 Yoruba state of Oyo still dominates region west of the Niger river in West Africa
1722-1723 Asante conquer kingdom of Bono-Mansu north of the forest area of Akan region of West Africa
1724-1734 King Agaja of Dahomey in West Africa temporarily disrupts slave trade; it is reintroduced in the 1740s
1725 Fulani Muslim cleric Alfa Ibrahim appointed Commander of the Faithful in Futa Jalon in West Africa
1727 Death of Mulai Ismail followed by 30 years of anarchy in Morocco
1740 The Lunda create prosperous new kingdom
1746 Mazrui dynasty in Mombasa, East Africa, becomes independent from Oman
1755 The first outbreak of smallpox, brought by sailors, in Cape Town, South Africa, spreads rapidly inland; it kills many Khoisan hunters and herders
1764-1777 Reign of Osei Kwadwo, Asante ruler, in West Africa
1768-1773 Scottish explorer James Bruce travels in Ethiopia
1768 Ali Bey, a Mamluk army officer, makes himself ruler of Egypt
1770 Tukolor kingdom gains power in former Songhai region of West Africa
1773 Ali Bey dies a week after being wounded in a battle with rebels led by Abu'l-Dhahab
1777 Sidi Mohammed, ruler of Morocco (1757-90), abolishes Christian slavery
1779 Dutch farmers in Cape Colony clash with organized Xhosa resistance
1781 Militant Tijaniyya Islamic order set up in Algeria
1785 Omani rulers reassert influence in Zanzibar
1787 Tuaregs, nomads in Sahara, abolish Moroccan pashalik of Timbuktu
1788 Usuman dan Fodio, a Fulani cleric, stirs holy war against a Hausa king
1788 African Association founded in England to explore interior of Africa
1795 British seize Cape Colony from Dutch for the first time
1795-1796 Scottish explorer Mungo Park travels through Gambia and reaches Niger
1804 Fulani begin jihad (holy war) in northern Nigeria
1805-1806 Mungo Park explores Niger river, West Africa
1805-1848 Mohammed Ali rules Egypt; Egypt breaks away from Ottoman empire
1807 Asante invade Fante confederacy of states
1808 Fulani invade Bornu near Lake Chad
1814 Cape Colony in south Africa formally ceded to Britain by Netherlands
1816-1828 Career of Zulu ruler Shaka in South Africa
1820 Fulani emirate founded in Adamawa, West Africa
1820-1864 Fulani in Mali, West Africa, found and rule Hamdallahi caliphate
1822 Liberia founded in West Africa as home for freed slaves
1825 Egyptians found the city of Khartoum in Sudan
1828 Basel mission to Ghana (then called Gold Coast), West Africa
1828 Shaka, Zulu ruler, assassinated by his half-brother Dingane who takes over as ruler of Zulu nation
1830 French invade Algeria; they gradually occupy the country
1832-1847 Abd-al-Kadir leads Arab resistance to France in Algeria
1836-1837 The Great Trek of Boers (Dutch farmers) away from British in South Africa; they fond the Republic of Natal in 1838 and the Orange Free State in 1854
1840 Imam Sayyid Said, ruler of Oman (1806-56), makes Zanzibar, a small island off the east African coast, his capital
1843 Britain takes over Natal from the Boers as a British colony
1852 Tukolor leader al-Hajj 'Umar launches jihad along Senegal and upper Niger rivers to establish Islamic state
1852 In South Africa, Britain recognizes Transvaal's independence
1853-1856 Dr David Livingstone crosses Africa; follows course of Zambezi river, reaches Victoria Falls
1855-1868 Reign of Emperor Theodore of Ethiopia
1863 Al-Hajj 'Umar takes Timbuktu
1865-1868 Wars between Orange Free State and Moshweshwe's Basuto people, in South Africa
1867 Diamonds discovered at Kimberley at South Africa
1869 Suez Canal opened
1872 Cape Colony in South Africa granted self-government by Britain
1873-1874 War between Asante kingdom and Britain
1874 Beginnings of Mande state in old Mali under Samori Turé
1879 Zulu war with British; British defeated at Isandlwana but victorious at Ulundi
1880 Beginning of the European ³Scramble for Africa²
1880-1881 First Boer War, Transvaal defeats Britain
1885 Conference in Berlin on Scramble for Africa
1885 in Sudan, Muslim leader, the Mahdi, takes Khartoum from Egypt; General Gordon killed
1886 Gold found in Transvaal
1894 French set up protectorate in Dahomey (Benin), West Africa
1895-1896 Jameson Raid into Transvaal
1896 France takes Madagascar
1896 Ethiopian ruler Menelik crushes Italian army at Adowa
1897 Slavery banned in Zanzibar
1899-1902 Second Boer War in South Africa
1900 Buganda, East Africa, is ruled by the kabaka, or king, with British advice
1900-1901 Rising in Asante, West Africa; Britain annexes Asante
1902 Treaty of Verceniging ends second Boer War in South Africa; defeated Boers remain bitter and determined to regain power
1903 Sokoto caliphate in Hausaland taken over by Britain
1904 French create federation of French West Africa
1905 Kaiser William II of Germany visits Tangier and provokes crisis with France
1905 Maji-Maji rebellion begins in Tanzania (German East Africa)
1906 Tripartite pact (Britain, France, Italy)seeks to preserve integrity of Ethiopia
1907 Government of Mozambique organized
1908 Belgium takes over Congo Free State
1909 Franco-German agreement reached on Morocco
1909 Liberia calls on United States for financial assistance
1910 Union of South Africa
1912 New loans to Liberia coupled with US control over customs revenue
1912 French make Morocco a protectorate at Treaty of Fez
1913 South African government introduces laws to reserve 87 per cent of land for whites
1914 Britain and France occupy German colonies in West Africa
1916 Boer leader Jan Smuts leads an anti-German drive from Kenya into Tanzania (German East Africa)
1916 British and Belgian troops take Yaounde, the capital of the German Cameroons
1917 Ras Tafari (later, Haile Selassie) becomes regent of Ethiopia
1917 German forces in German East Africa withstand British and Portuguese at Mahiwa; Germans withdraw into Mozambique
1919 ANC demonstrates against pass laws in Transvaal
1920 More British and Indians settle Kenya
1921-1926 Abd-el-Krim leads Berbers and Arabs against Europeans in North Africa
1922 Egypt becomes independent from Britain under King Fuad
1923 Ethiopia admitted to League of Nations
1930 White women given the vote in South Africa
1930 Ras Tafari crowned emperor of Ethiopia, and takes name Haile Selassie
1931 First trans-African railway completed, from Angola to Mozambique
1934-1936 British colonial government of Ghana suppresses radical African critics
1936 Representation of Natives Act denies black South Africans any chance of political equality
1935-1936 Italians under Mussolini invade and annex Ethiopia
1939 South Africa declares war on Germany at start of World War II
1941 German army under Rommel attacks British in North Africa
1941 Ethiopia liberated from Italians by Ethiopians and British, and recognized as independent
1942 British defeat German army at Battle of El Alamein in Egypt
1943 Germans and Italians driven from North Africa
1948 Afrikaner National Party wins power in South Africa
1951 Libya gains independence
1952-1959 Mau-Mau guerrilla war against British in Kenya
1954-1962 War for independence in Algeria; freedom won in 1962
1954-1970 Colonel Nasser rules Egypt; revolutionary changes
1956 Suez crisis; Britain and France attempt to regain control of Suez canal from Egypt, but fail
1956 Morocco, Tunisia, and Sudan gain their independence
1957 Ghana is first country in sub-Saharan Africa to become independent
1958-1960 Independence for Zaire, Nigeria, Somalia, and 12 of France's 13 sub-Saharan colonies
1960 Civil war in south Sudan
1960-1965 Civil war in Zaire, formerly Belgian Congo
1961-1967 Independence for Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi, Zambia, Lesotho, Botswana, Gambia, and Swaziland
1963 Organization of African Unity founded
1965 White regime in Zimbabwe declares independence
1967-1970 Biafran War, Nigeria
1970 Severe droughts in northeastern Africa and the lands on the southern edge of the Sahara
1974 Nigeria becomes leading oil producer in Africa
1974-1991 Revolutionary regime in Ethiopia; civil war spreads
1974-1975 Portuguese colonies gain independence after long struggle
1976 African schoolchildren spark uprisings in Soweto in South Africa
1980 Zimbabwe gains independence after guerrilla war
1983 Conflict in Sudan; more than 1.5 million people die
1983 African countries adopt IMF (International Monetary Fund) plans for managing their economies
1989 Zambia and other countries see changes of government by democratic election
1990 Namibia gets independence
1990 Nelson Mandela freed in South Africa; process of dismantling apartheid begins
1993 Eritrea (in north Ethiopia) breaks from Ethiopia; first successful secession in post-colonial Africa
1994 African National Congress (ANC) wins first multi-racial election ever held in South Africa
2002 African Union (AU) founded, replacing the Organization of African Unity  
2003 Conflict begins in Darfur, Sudan; hundreds of thousands displaced  
2008 Global food crisis hits many African countries hard  
2011 South Sudan becomes independent from Sudan after a referendum  
2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, especially in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia  
2019 Protests in Sudan lead to the ousting of President Omar al-Bashir after 30 years in power  
2020 COVID-19 pandemic affects Africa; countries implement lockdowns and receive international aid  
2021 Nigeria becomes the first African country to launch a digital currency (eNaira)  
2022 Severe drought in the Horn of Africa causes famine and millions depend on emergency aid  
2023 African Union gains permanent seat in the G20  
2024 African countries increase cooperation on climate adaptation and renewable energy projects  